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Where’s Your Mobile App?

Mobile app stores these days are beginning to look more like a fully stocked Walmart than a small and simple boutique. How will you get your app to stand out among the thousands of other apps available to mobile users? A big deciding factor that influences users to select your app over another is overall design. People do not want to visit a business that is cluttered and confusing, and the same goes for mobile apps. A few easy to follow design guidelines can easily take any app to the top of the download charts.

First impressions are important

Your app’s icon will be its first introduction to any mobile user. It may be small, but your icon carries a big impact towards first time users.

• Is it clean and distinguishable?
• Does it express what your app does or who you are?
• Does it look good enough for your user to want to place it proudly on their home screen?

These are all things to take into consideration when designing your app’s icon. It not only needs to grab users’ attention when perusing the app store, but it also needs to stand out in the sea of icons already floating on their home screen. An eye catching icon will entice users to not only download your app, but be a constant reminder to utilize it once it’s loaded onto their phone.

Branding

It’s important to think of your app as another avenue to brand and market your company. Therefore, you want to use the colors, logo, and other iconography that you have already associated with your business when designing your app. Now is not the time to change things up! A good design utilizes a consistent color scheme and prominent logo placement so the user can instantly and continuously identify your brand.

Keep it simple

As with many things, the simplest route is almost always the best. Mobile users can quickly get frustrated with apps that are too complicated, and with a delete option only a few taps away, it’s best to give users a clean and streamlined experience to avoid this risk. Even with expanding smartphone screen sizes, usable real estate on mobile devices comes at a premium. Resist using every inch of screen space and use large and simple icons for simple navigation. Avoid cramming too many menu options into your app and provide ample margin of error, that way, your app can be easily navigated with the clumsiest of thumbs or the most accurate stylus.

So to boil it all down, what design choices make for happy app users? Never overlook the importance of your app’s icon, make your design details gel with your ongoing branding efforts, and above all, keep it simple!